EUHT StPOL in the final of the European Young Chef Award 2022

Our student Raúl Gisbert represented Catalonia in the contest celebrated in Norway. The Menorcan chef Pau Sintes awarded the winner out of a total of 9 finalists

This weekend the 6th European Youth Chef Award (EYCA) took place at the Strinda school in Trondheim-Trøndelag (Norway), European Region of Gastronomy 2022, in which our student Raúl Gisbert competed after winning the Catalan Young Cuisine Award last April.

Despite doing a great job and surprising all the members of the jury with his reinvention of the Catalan aperitif concept, his performance was not enough to win the prize, which went to the Menorcan chef Pau Sintes. The Top3 was occupied by Špela Kuhel from Slovenia and Ivar Follinglo Moe from Trondheim-Trøndelag in 2nd and 3rd place respectively.

“Vermut en tres mossegades”: the recipe with the highest overall score

Raúl, who is currently enrolled in the Technical Degree in Gastronomy and Restaurant Services at EUHT StPOL, presented a culinary proposal titled “Aperitif in 3 bites”, an innovative approach to the Catalan appetizer of crisps, mussels in brine and anchovy-stuffed olives.

At the start of the event, the 9 contestants presented the traditional versions of their dishes, while the following day was the actual competition session. Raúl’s proposal consists of integrating the different elements into a single dish: the crisps become a potato cannellone covered in olive oil jelly with a crispy potato biscuit and a powdered spice to emulate the brava sauce. The mussels appear in the form of pannacotta and the stuffed olives become a tapenade emulating their natural form, accompanied by fresh cockles. All this is bound by salty olive oil ice cream.

#EYCA22 by IGCAT

The EYCA is an award organized by the Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Art and Tourism (IGCAT), a non-profit entity that aims to empower local communities through the promotion of their cultural idiosyncrasies and the establishment of cooperation networks between regions. In addition to the young cuisine category, IGCAT also promotes the European Region of Gastronomy Award, the World Food Gift Challenge or the Food Film Menu, among other contests, and holds the official secretariat of the European Regions of Gastronomy.

The participation of the representative of Catalonia in the European Young Chef Award (EYCA) is promoted by PRODECA and the Agència Catalana de Turisme, as members of the European Regions of Gastronomy.

The first two editions of the EYCA were held at the EUHT StPOL’s Hotel-School and since then, each edition has been hosted in the European Region of Gastronomy of that given year. In 2023, the French Hautes-de-France region will be the European Region of Gastronomy and hence, it will host next year’s edition of the EYCA contest.